Flashback: the clock is ticking
The time was changing in Newfoundland by an experiment with double daylight time
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Double trouble
How did you feel about resetting your clocks this weekend? CBC News recently reported that Quebec is seeking residents' opinions on switching to and from daylight time, noting that it "has long been the subject of debate."
Don't like moving the clock's hands by an hour? How about two? One province experimented with so-called "double daylight time" back in the spring of 1988, according to CBC's Saturday Report. Pro: it meant more evening light for sports. Con: it wreaked havoc on schedules for little kids, said reporter Fred Greening.
John Butt, minister of culture for Newfoundland, downplayed the political and personal impact of the change. "We haven't said that this is going to be forever and a day," he said. "One hour, one way or the other, doesn't shake me up."
Groovy move
In various places, the night before Halloween can be known as Mischief Night, Devil's Night, Hell Night, Gate Night, Cabbage Night or Mat Night, says Wikipedia. Last week, CBC Windsor showed why Oct. 30 was once synonymous with arson.
Also last week, CBC News said that several northern Quebec communities would be choosing to postpone Halloween to Friday, Nov. 1 in 2024. Some Ontario towns shifted their trick-or-treating day 25 years ago, too, but to Oct. 30 – and not so that they could make mischief.
In 1999, a kid dressed as Austin Powers (above) liked that moving Halloween meant he could stay out late, said reporter Christine Crowther on CBC's Saturday Report. A local mom had another reason. "It's always harder on a school night, because the next day they're tired, they don't want to get up," she said.
On the right track
There was good news last week for supporters of high-speed rail service in Central Canada: CBC News reported that, "in the coming weeks," the federal government will announce plans for a train that will carry passengers between the region's two most populated cities, Montreal and Toronto, in three hours.
According to another CBC News report, the possibility of linking the Alberta centres of Calgary and Edmonton with high-speed rail service is also currently being studied. That idea has been around for decades.
A 1996 report on Calgary Newshour discussed a proposed high-speed rail route to Edmonton, but suggested it was best not to get one's hopes up. "Even if momentum is piling on," said the CBC reporter, "it will still be five years at the earliest before a train races through central Alberta."
Election odds
How far we've come from 2000, when a CBC News anchor said the U.S. presidential race was "certainly the strangest" in history. This year, an election special from CBC's satirical news show
promises to bring us "one of America's greatest weirdos."
Future shop
Human connection may be the key to the future of the shopping mall, CBC News learned last week. Contrast that with the future of shopping that a reporter from CBC News glimpsed at the dawn of the internet age in 1995: the "cyber mall."
Cut down the clutter
An Ottawa woman who described herself to CBC News as an "A-class hoarder" says she wants to help others see why too much stuff is a problem. It's no problem, a man who conducted classes in decluttering told CBC in 1993: just get more stuff to keep your stuff out of sight.
Neeson at noon
With the new movie Absolution, the actor Liam Neeson is "planning to retire from the action revenge genre that injected his career with a second life," according to Variety magazine. In 1990, while promoting his film Darkman, Neeson spoke to Valerie Pringle on CBC's Midday.
